Autonomous driving to create 'passenger economy' worth $7tn

TINNews |

A report, sponsored by Intel, has forecast that driverless vehicles will generate significant economic opportunities that will increase from $800bn in 2035 to $7tn by 2050 as this technology becomes more widely used.

Prepared by Strategy Analytics, the study explores economic potential when today’s drivers become idle passengers.

Called 'passenger economy', this new opportunity will be realised through autonomous driving and smart city technologies. Time and surplus as a result of these technologies will lead to industries being reconfigured and new ones created.

Entitled ‘Accelerating the Future: The Economic Impact of the Emerging Passenger Economy’, the report also estimated that 585,000 lives could be saved due to autonomous vehicles between 2035 and 2045.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said: "Companies should start thinking about their autonomous strategy now.

"Less than a decade ago, no-one was talking about the potential of a soon-to-emerge app or sharing economy because no one saw it coming.

"The emergence of pilotless vehicle options will first appear in developed markets and will reinvent the package delivery and long-haul transportation sectors."

"This is why we started the conversation around the 'passenger economy' early, to wake people up to the opportunity streams that will emerge when cars become the most powerful mobile data generating devices we use and people swap driving for riding."

Just as new digital business models emerged due to personal computing, the internet, ubiquitous connectivity and smartphones, autonomous driving will do the same, the report stated.

Strategy Analytics president Harvey Cohen said: “Autonomous technology will drive change across a range of industries and define a new landscape, the first green shoots of which will appear in the business-to-business sector.

"The emergence of pilotless vehicle options will first appear in developed markets and will reinvent the package delivery and long-haul transportation sectors.

"This will relieve driver shortages around the world and account for two-thirds of initially projected revenues."

The report further indicated that commercialisation of autonomously operated vehicles will increase by 2040.